Mischief Night Magic
Sequel to
Cemetery Shenanigans
Part One: Heather Delilah Soenksen

My mother is the night nurse at King's Daughters Hospital, my father is a foreman at Benton Brickwork. Because of their shifting schedules it's rare for the two of them to be at home at the same time. My father was already at work when I left home to keep my appointment with the strange woman. My mom had just gotten off, and had already showered and was fast asleep when I left.

The walk to the cemetery was oddly enough peaceful. The world still seemed half asleep, and the town seemed oddly at peace. True to its nature the weather had turned again. A day or so ago it had been freezing cold, it was now hot and muggy. I even broke a sweat as I walked down the cobblestone paved sidewalk. Soon though, mostly because I'm quick on my feet it only took around a half an hour to reach the iron front gate of the cemetery.

Without giving it a second thought I passed under the gate and then it hit me, like the verbal ton of bricks, I had no idea where I was supposed to meet this strange woman. In fact I knew nothing about her, only she lived in the cemetery and it seemed her job was watching over the graves. I stood there, puzzling over what I should do when I heard a voice call out behind me.

“Hey Heather!” The voice belonged to a woman. “Glad to see you’re on time. I was a bit worried you might have bailed on me.”

I blinked and blinked again, I knew of only one person who called me 'Heather'.

“And hey! Last time we were kind of in a rush and I never really introduced myself. My name is Gwendoline Riston Potter. And I'm the grave keeper here.” Gwendoline said as she walked up to me. It then dawned on me, this was my first time getting a really good look at her.

The first thing I noticed about her was her hair. She had long honey blonde hair, the last time I saw her, she wore her hair pulled back in a low ponytail and had her hair braided. This time she wore it down, it seemed to just spill over her shoulders. The next thing I noticed about her was how fit she was, she was dressed in a form fitting pair of jeans. And a tight, form fitting work shirt. The next thing I noticed was the color of her eyes, they were blue, and clear as crystal. All in all she was a beautiful woman, the kind of woman I'd hope I'd become one day if I was lucky enough.

“Oh cool.” I said blushing.

“I guess you can call me Heather Soenksen.” I said blushing.

“Still debating on a middle name?” Gwendoline said as she peered at me.

“Kind of yes.” I said blushing as I looked down on the ground.

“May I make a suggestion?” Gwendoline ventured.

“Sure, I'm always open for suggestions.” I said.

“Delilah.” Gwendoline said without missing a beat. “It is a cool middle name, goes with Heather and back when I was your age, it was so, so popular. Like everybody on Myspace was talking about it. And all the Hot Topics were playing it on like an endless loop. That back when anime was still kind of new and everyone wanted to dress in nothing but black and Hot Topic was still kind of Hot Topic and not a sell out like it is today.”

I titled my head to the side. I only understood one word out of ten. But I could make out enough to follow alone with what she was saying.

“Okay Ms. Gwendoline Riston Potter. My name is Ms. Heather Delilah Soenksen. Its a pleasure to meet you.” I said blushing as I looked around to see if anybody else had noticed my blushing. It's hard to describe the feeling that came over me. It was like discovering that missing piece of a puzzle you've been working on after putting the rest of the puzzle together. It kind of completed me.

“Please just Gwen.” Gwendoline said smiling. She then added. “Okay that's enough talking. Time to get to work. Okay here what we're doing, people often leave trinkets on the graves. You know things like candles, flowers, cheap, plastic rosaries if they're Catholic. Sometimes stuffed animals if the grave belongs to a child. That is all fine and good, but often the wind and rain knock these trinkets around and they often end up in the creek that flows behind my house. Once they get into the creek they often get into the city's drainage system and from time to time they clog up a storm pipe or something. Now when a big thunderstorm or rain shower comes and all that water washes down from the hills It has no way to go, because the storm pipes are clogged up and the water can't freely flow into the Big Black River.” Gwendoline paused.

“Follow what I'm saying so far?” Gwendoline asked as she peered toward me.

“Just a word here and there.” I said honestly. “But I think I got the picture, we're going to clean up around the graves, remove the trinkets and stuff before they get into the creek. That way they don't clog up the city's drainage and cause a problem when the winter snow and ice start to melt and those sudden winter storms come pounding down from the East of us.” I ventured.

“Good!” Gwendoline said. “Now, I changed my mind. I was going to have you work without pay, you know part of your punishment for sneaking into the graveyard. But something tells me you're starting on an adventure and like any good adventure you're going to need some money. So I'll pay you ten dollars an hour. That cash.. and if you prove to be a good hard worker, then I'll have you come help me again. I normally try to clean a section of the graveyard each week.” Gwen looked away.

“The city use to employee about a dozen guys to keep the graveyard clean.” Gwen said with a sigh. “Most of those guys were convicts and so the city paid them a pittance. But they got time off of their sentence and a little pocket money in exchange for their work. But that deal came to an end when one of the town's councilwoman felt that using convict labor was inhumane. And she raised seventeen hundred dollars worth of hell till they brought that program to an end.”

I nodded my head.

“So the board of trustees tried to hire local youths. But teenagers don't work for free and you can't get away with paying them below minimum wage.” Gwendoline said with a sigh. “I mean that, the starting wage for a graveyard keeper helper when I was your age was four dollars and fifty cents. With little hope of getting an increase of pay.”
I blinked and blinked again.

“So why are you paying me ten dollars an hour?” I asked Gwendoline as I peered toward her. We had a few minutes to spare I thought, so a little chit-chat could help pass those fleeting seconds or minutes before we were supposed to break and start to work in cleaning up the place.

“Because it's no longer two thousand eight.” Gwendoline said as she peered toward me. “And because I'm a Potter, and Potters always float above the law.” She added with a touch of pride.

Now, for those who were not raised in Benton allow me for a moment to tell you about the 'Potter Family'. In Benton there are a number of families that are considered my most to be village royalty. These are families that have been around Benton since the town was founded way back in the eighteen hundreds. See Benton used to be called 'Hannah's Landing' and all the local historians agree the name was chosen because the person who founded the town who was by chance also a Potter had a wife named 'Hannah'.

Now not only were the Potters counted among the oldest of the founding families but they were also the wealthiest too. I can count three businesses that are stables of Benton that are owned by the Potters, and those are 'Potters Mercantile' a general store that has served Benton and the surrounding holdings for generations. Up next we had 'Sweet Magnolia' a Japanese inspired Southern tearoom where all the staff wore colorful anime inspired maid uniforms. And last but not least 'Potter's Second Hand Boutique' the latest business venture by the Potter family. The last one was really popular among the girls of Benton because the owner Josephine Potter, stocked all the latest teenage fashions.

And sold everything from skirts, stockings, to formal gowns to Sunday dresses. And because everything was second hand, the prices were not as high as you would expect. A shimmering prom dress that would cost you a hundred sixty dollars in the mall could be had for around eighty dollars. As an added bonus Josephine who also had a in house seamstress by the name of Persephone Whitethorn who also owned her own business called 'Persephone The Seamstress' would pin and tailor the dress to fit your needs for that extra special fit, for a small fee of course. But even that fee was cheaper than what the seamstresses in Jackson charged.

“Okay that's enough talking.” Gwendoline said as she peered toward me. “We have a lot of ground to cover and we're doing nothing here but burning daylight. So let's get a move on.”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Now, here what I want you to do.” She said smiling. “Scattered around the cemetery are trash cans, normally hidden behind trees or something. There should be one in each section, just pick a section and start picking up stuff. If the stuff looks old, like weather worn, toss it into the trash, like say if somebody left a teddy bear and its missing patches of its fur and one eye fallen out. Into the trash it goes, if it looks new, kind of let it chill for a bit. If a candle looks new, then again leave it there, but if it's burned down to a nub. Just toss it away. You know, use your best judgment.” Gwendoline paused. “I trust you.”

I nodded my head and started to leave, now that I've been given my marching orders.

“Oh and one more thing Heather.” Gwendoline called out to me before I had strayed too far from her.

I stopped and turned upon my heel.

“I don't think I need to tell you this. But I'm trusting you to do a good job. Don't goof off and don't play around out there. I expect you to show proper respect for the dead too. If I find out that you've been goofing off, I promise you this, not only will you get another spanking. But this would be the last time I ask you to help me. And no, you will not get paid either.” Gwendoline said. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes ma'am.” I said swallowing hard.

“Good, off you go. I'll come find you around twelve, when we break for lunch.” Gwendoline said as she started to walk away.

Now I did not plan on disappointing Gwendoline, so I started right to work. I quickly noticed that the grounds were indeed covered thickly with scattered trinkets. It was slow work, it kind of reminded me of pulling weeds, in that you had to pull one weed at a time. It was also back breaking work, because you had to stoop down and pick up the trinket before tossing it into the trash.

As I worked, my mind started to drift away. I started to wonder if I was really a girl after all, a girl who had been trapped in the body of a boy? Also what kind of girl would I be? Would I be the princess type, the one that wears nothing but pastel colors, who only owns skirts and dresses? Would I be the tomboy type who shuns anything girly and can rough house with the best of them? Maybe I was both? Maybe I was an iron butterfly?

I had so many questions and the only one who could answer those questions for me, was myself. Maybe Gwendoline would be willing to guide me? I had my doubts about mom, she would accept me I'm sure, she after all, always wanted a daughter. Dad on the other hand would flip his lid and bust my lip for even thinking about becoming a girl.

So many questions, so many questions.